Eateries plead for change to rules

Almost half of state’s restaurants likely to close, group says

Pennsylvania ought to consider going back to the mid-2020 "green phase" guidance for restaurants to mitigate the harm that shutdowns have inflicted on them since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the head of the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association, speaking at a live-streamed House Commerce Committee hearing Wednesday.

Proposals for financial help are welcome, but restaurants need to be able to open productively again, association CEO John Longstreet said.

The green phase guidance allows for indoor dining in keeping with building occupancy limits, with bar seating, provided there are physical barriers or 6 feet of space.

Those restrictions are "safe and sensible" and would give restaurants "breathing room," he said.

The current restrictions allow restaurants to open at 50% capacity for indoor dining, if they self-certify that they will abide by mitigation requirements, but if they don't, they're restricted to 25% occupancy -- and no bar seating is permitted.

Studies have shown that restaurants and bars are a significant vehicle for spreading COVID-19, Department of Health officials have said repeatedly.

But Ohio and Florida have managed to keep their restaurants open with results that indicate that Pennsylvania's closures were excessive, according to Longstreet.

Gov. Tom Wolf has urged the General Assembly to allocate $145 million in excess Workers Compensation funding to help restaurants, but if all 26,000 partook, that would provide only $5,500 each, which is hardly enough, Longstreet said.

There are other proposals for financial help, but "there's not enough money out there" to save the industry, Longstreet said.

Forty-five percent of the owners of the 26,000 restaurants in the state have said they're likely to go out of business within two months if they don't get help, he said.

"Restaurants are getting absolutely hammered," said committee Chairman Brad Roae, R-Meadville, at the start of the hearing.

"We have to balance health and safety with our economy," minority Chairman John Galloway, D-Levittown, said.

Other Democrats stressed the need for financial help, rather than relaxing restrictions.

At the beginning of the pandemic, restaurant owners were happy to do their part, figuring "we're all in this together," said Chris Sirianni, owner of The Brewerie at Union Station in Erie, who spoke at the hearing.

But as days turned into weeks and weeks into months -- about 100 days into the pandemic -- many owners realized "we're not in this together," Sirianni said. "The same storm, but different boats."

He has had to refinance his business, he said. "Our equity is gone," he said. "We've got to start over."

Especially damaging have been the imposition of restrictions on short notice, which has led to major wastage of food and drink that can't be returned, said Sirianni and Jen Fertenbaugh, owner of Level 2 and Cafe Fresco-Center City in Harrisburg, who also spoke.

She threw away $12,000 dollars worth of supplies, Fertenbaugh said.

Her businesses income fell $907,000 short for 2020, and she's had to go into significant debt, Fertenbaugh said.

It has been devastating to lay off employees, who went "crying into the holidays," Sirianni said.

"They bleed," Fertenbaugh said.

It's also hard to replace the "professionals" among those employees, and expensive to train their replacements, Fertenbaugh said.

Insurance hasn't paid anything because of exemption clauses for viruses -- clauses the validity of which her attorney has confirmed, Fertenbaugh said.

"I feel your fury," said Rep. Melissa Shusterman, D-Paoli. "I want to be in a restaurant again."

"Put the responsibility on me to do it safely and right," Fertenbaugh said. "I welcome (that)."